The Russellville Cyclones will have to use their speed to compensate for their size disadvantage against the Rogers Heritage War Eagles on Friday.

"Their size up front is a concern for us," Russellville head coach Jeff Weaver said. "We didn't run the ball much last week against Morrilton, but that front was more attacking and blitzing to disrupt the run. Rogers Heritage is just big. We are going to try and run them side to side. Get them tired. Get more push from our guys. We'll try and get the ball out quick enough where they aren't able to bull rush us. Defensively, we are going to use our quickness as a weapon."

Weaver said Rogers Heritage has speed at quarterback and young inexperienced players in the secondary and at receiver, which could be a factor.

"They play in the 7A-West, and that means they are used to playing against really talented competition," Weaver said.

Against the War Eagles, Weaver said he believed the Cyclones have a "space" advantage.

"If we can get the ball in space and force them to play there, if we can do that then we have a chance to make good things happen," Weaver said. "I'm looking forward to getting out there. The first three weeks are real important to figure out our identity and get better before conference season."

Moving forward

Russellville was defeated 21-20 by the Morrilton Devil Dogs in Week 1 on a blocked field goal in the final moments of the game. Weaver said the snap was dropped, which led to a block of the game tying field goal.

In other words, it was a mistake. And it wasn't the only one. Weaver said he saw them up and down the field all night.

"The blocked kick is magnified because it was at the end of the game, but there were 25 other plays that had very similar situations that the average observer may not see, but we can show the kids on film. We were up 14-0 and we get behind the defense and drop a perfectly thrown ball. We run a counter and our motion guy doesn't have proper spacing. It would have been a really big play if we get that right. There was play after play after play like that. A lot of it was mistakes we've been making in practice, but sometimes we have to learn the hard way on some things."

The Cyclones outgained Morrilton 261 to 237 in total offense and controlled the time of possession -- two things Weaver said typically lead to victory.

"We played way too sloppy," he said. "Way too many mistakes that held us back. Defensively, we tackled fairly well and didn't give up any big plays, but we certainly wore down on defense. The biggest thing is to play a cleaner game because it wound up costing us a victory."

Going forward, Weaver said the team has had a good week of practice.

"They were able to see on film the things holding us back," he said. "We've made a change here and there to personnel, too."

History

Russellville has defeated Rogers Heritage by a combined score of 45-6 across the last two meetings and lead the series 2-1, but much like the Cyclones, the War Eagles are mid-transition. Rogers Heritage hired head coach Tony Travis to rebuild to program prior to last season. Before that, Travis was 39-38 in seven seasons at Pea Ridge.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at David Gates Stadium.

NOTES -- Rhett Adkins was 13-of-19 for 199 yards and two touchdowns with a long of 53 yards ... Adkins also picked up the Cyclones largest gain on the ground with a 23-yard run ... Ryan Talley hauled in eight catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns ... Rogers Heritage lost 30-12 to Little Rock Central last week.